25 October 2007
Transnational Partnerships for Innovation and Technology Transfer
in the Footwear Industry
Ideas Generation, Knowledge Exchange for Networking and Institutional Support
Alicante, Spain

 Event website
 Programme and registration form [1108 kb]

This one-day seminar aims to promote the exchange of experiences of successful investments in research and innovation in the footwear sector, providing a concrete chance for ideas generation, partnerships creation and networking among research and technology centres in Europe, with a special focus on Italy-Spain collaboration opportunities.

This event is organised by IPI in collaboration with the Spanish Footwear Center INESCOP, under the Fashion to Future (F2F) project.

For further information, visit F2F website:
 http://www.fashiontofuture.eu/

The overall scope of this national SME portal is to offer information, resources, support, services and web applications in favor of SMEs and their needs in Romania. This is a virtual hub or single point of access for SMEs and/or a key resource in a specific industrial sector, geographic area or specialized topic. The English version of the portal will be soon available.

For further information:
 http://www.business-entrepreneur.ro

Source: Ministry for SMEs, Commerce, Tourism and Liberal Profession (INSME Member).

The Business Incubators Development Association - ASIA (Italy, INSME Member), in collaboration with INSME, promotes a business women's meeting on Innovative Technologies for SMEs in Qingdao (China) from October 19th to 27th, 2007. The meeting aims at enhancing the bilateral partnership between Italy and China, in the field of industry, science and technology, in order to develop the transfer of Italian know-how and the adoption of innovative technologies from Chinese SMEs and vice-versa.

Participation fee for INSME Association Members from Italy is reduced.

Read the agenda and the registration conditions (in Italian only):
 Informativa Qingdao

NETworking FINancial TEXtile

This is a financial network established within the Europe INNOVA initiative. NetFinTex identifies and analyses the leverages and barriers to financing innovation within the textile sector and develops guidelines for textile firms relating to best practice in innovation financing and location of appropriate funding options. It also prepares policy recommendations for the improvement of the innovation financing framework conditions for textile and clothing companies in Europe.

For further information, please refer to:
 http://www.europe-innova.org
 Factsheet NetFinTeX

D'Appolonia (INSME Member) is among NetFinText Partners.

The Slovenian Chairmanship of EUREKA and the EUREKA Secretariat invite key public-sector and industry players from the European research arena for the European launch of the Eurostars Programme aimed at supporting research-performing small and medium-sized enterprises:

A new ERA for SME Research and Innovation
Brussels, 2 October 2007

Read the programme and register:
 http://eurostars.fb.email.addemar.com/c6/h109b4
 http://www.eurostars-eureka.eu/tiles/launchEvent_october2007.html

At the first EU-Brazil Summit held in Lisbon last July, the European Commission has proposed to establish a Strategic Partnership with Brazil aimed at developing their cooperation in key sectors such as energy, maritime transport and regional development, and building new and long-lasting links between their people. Science, Technology (S&T) and innovation is a declared priority area for the Brazilian government. Furthermore, through an active dialogue with the EU, Brazil will be motivated to move towards more regional integration in Mercosur and encourage Mercosur to be more open in the negotiations with EU.

Read more at:
 http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/brazil/intro/index.htm

According to a recent report on innovation policy in China carried out by OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), the country needs further reforms in research and development (R&D) and higher education to enhance its innovation-oriented economy.

Looking ahead, China should invest in skilled workers in science and technology, improving the quality of science education with more emphasis on managerial expertise and entrepreneurship, despite China has currently more researchers than any other country except the United States.

 OECD Reviews of Innovation Policy: China, Synthesis Report

This policy brief by the OECD emphasizes the issue of how knowledge, globalisation and the emergence of new information technologies are retained and used to obtain economic returns. In particular, it analyses how to improve investments in intellectual assets and the diffusion of best practices in favour of managers, investors and policy makers.

Access a summary of the OECD policy brief at:
 www.oecd.org/LongAbstract

Read the full text of the OECD policy brief dated February 2007 at: 
 http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd

A new study finds that two-thirds of the value of American large manufacturers comes from intellectual property, mainly in the form of patents and trademarks. IP-intensive firms greatly outperform their counterparts. The report concludes by recommending that policymakers do a better job protecting US-based IP as these assets represent a critical competitive advantage for American manufacturers.

Access the August 2007 NGO World Growth report Economic Effects of Intellectual Property-Intensive Manufacturing in the US.

This report was released last May under the initiative INNO Learning Platform within the PRO-INNO Europe programme of the European Commission. It analyses the high-growth of a small group of SMEs named gazelles" playing a great role in creating new business and jobs, providing high returns for investors and promoting regional development.

Download the report:
 http://www.proinno-europe.eu/admin/uploaded_documents/high-growth_innovative_SMEs.pdf

The INSME Association has lately established collaborative relations with the following organisation:

The Association of European Science & Technology Transfer Professionals (ASTP), a non-profit organisation aimed at promoting technology and knowledge transfer between European scientists and industries from around the world.

Based in The Hague, in the Netherlands, since 1999, ASTP has currently more than 500 members in 35 countries.

Website: 
 http://www.astp.net/

Ciberamerica is a prototype of institutional portal created by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology (MCYT) to provide a wide array of services aimed at the needs and requirements of the 22-nation Ibero-American community.

Services include a selection of commented links to enable quick and easy access to the main resources available on the Internet for each topic, an online Spanish-Portuguese-Spanish translator and a complete guide containing addresses and telephone numbers of public bodies, educational and cultural institutions, companies and organisations.

 http://www.ciberamerica.org/

This initiative is aimed to facilitate the exchange of information between European local and regional policy makers and to identify and monitor the obstacles encountered by regional and local authorities in implementing the Lisbon Strategy, the plan to make the EU the most competitive economy by 2010.

Fifty EU cities and regions are initially participating in the monitoring system. A fully-fledged monitoring system should be ready by 2007.

For further information: 
 http://www.lisbon.cor.europa.eu/

Here is a sampling of upcoming and future conferences, meetings, workshops and seminars selected from the Events section of the INSME portal, which contains a complete searchable listing.

You can also receive by e-mail a weekly list of future events by subscribing to the INSME E-Mail Alert at http://www.insme.org/.

OCTOBER 2007

3-5 October 2007
BioContact Québec 2007
A biopharmaceutical partnership symposium gathering over 1200 participants..
Québec, Canada

4-5 October 2007
Technology Transfer and Innovation on Benefit of SMEs
A brokerage event organised by the National Autority for Scientific Research, IPA-CIFATT Craiova (R&D, Engineering and Manufacturing Institute for Automation Equipment and Systems), the Romanian IRC 4D and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania.
Bucharest, Romania

8-9 October 2007
"Knowledege for Growth: Role and Dynamics of Corporate R&D" - First European Conference
Jointly organised by the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS, one of the seven scientific institutes of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre-JRC) and the EU Commission's Directorate-General for Research.
Seville, Spain

14-16 October 2007
Europe Innova Second Annual Partnering Event - "Creating an Innovation Culture"
Organised by The Chamber of Commerce of Milan.
Milan, Italy

14-17 October 2007
10th European Conference on "Creativity and Innovation"
Organised by CBS (Copenaghen Business School), IKI (Danish Initiative for Creativity & Innovation) and EACI (European Association for Creativity and Innovation).
Copenaghen, Denmark 

17-18 October 2007
"Investing in Tech Transfer & Early Stage"
Conference organised by the International Business Forum and Boston University.
Boston, United States 

30-31 October 2007
Workshop on "Competitiveness of Small Enterprises: Clusters and Local Development"
Hosted by the Inter-American Development Bank, the Multilateral Investment Fund and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).
Washington D.C., United States

NOVEMBER 2007

5-6 November 2007
Global Forum 2007 - "Global Convergence 2.0 - Integration & Innovation: Building the Collaborative Knowledge Society"
Organised by the Municipality of Venice, Items International, Foundation Sophia Antipolis and ULSS 8 Veneto.
Venice, Italy

6-7 November 2007
2007 International Conference on SME Innovation on "Turning technology into Business Value for SMEs"
Organised by APEC SME Innovation Center (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation).
Seoul, Korea

7-8 November 2007
Second Euro-Mediterranean Symposium on Innovation - "Towards the Creation of Euromed Industrial Partnerships"
Organised in the framework of the EuroMed Innovation and Technology Programme (Medibtikar). Intrasoft International (INSME Member) is involved in the programme.
Cairo, Egypt

7-9 November 2007
30th Annual ISBE Conference - "International Entrepreneurship. Stimulating Smarter Successful Small Businesses Worldwide"
Organised by the Institute for Small Business & Entrepreneurship (ISBE), INSME Full Member.
Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom 

16-18 November 2007
4th Science Parks' Summit
Organised by Mersin IEEE and METU IEEE student branches (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). Supported by the International Association of Science Parks (IASP), the Middle East Technical University (METU), Mersin University and the Mersin Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Mersin, Turkey

18-20 November 2007
Woman Global Economic Forum - "Woman as an Effective Partner in the Economy Development"
Organised by the United Arab Emirates Business Women Council in cooperation with Seagull Exhibitions & Conferences under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak.
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

20 November 2007
Sixth EBAN Winter University
Organised by the European Business Angel Network (EBAN) in collaboration with Go Beyond (a company specialising in seed and early stage financing).
Geneva, Switzerland

20 November 2007
3rd Medinnov Forum on Innovation Networks in the Mediterranean
Organised by the ANIMA Network Association (Euro-Mediterranean Network of Investment Promotion Agencies).
Marseille, France

26-27 November 2007
Third Policy Dialogue Conference - "ERA: Transnational Foresight as a Policy Planning Tool"
Organised by the General Secretariat for Research and Technology (GSRT) of the Greek Ministry of Development and the Greek Research and Technology Network (GRNET, INSME Member).
Athens, Greece

28-30 November 2007
Online Educa Berlin 2007 - The 13th International Conference on Technology Supported Learning & Training
Organised by ICWE GmbH - International Conferences, Workshops and Exhibitions.
Berlin, Germany

DECEMBER 2007

3-4 December 2007
"Responsible Partnering between Research and Industry: Progress and Remaining Challenges in Effective Collaboration and Knowledge and Technology Transfer"
Co-organised by the European Industrial Research Management Association (EIRMA), the European Association of Research and Technology Organisations (EARTO), the European University Association (EUA) and ProTon Europe (the pan-European network of Knowledge Transfer Offices and companies affiliated to universities and other Public Research Organisations).
Lisbon, Portugal

12-15 December 2007
Inno Design Tech Expo 2007
Organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (TDC) in co-operation with the Hong Kong Design Centre and the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation.
Hong Kong